Now calling Steve Jobs a liar after death seems pretty ballsy to me particularly given Schmidt didn’t seem to want to do this during Steve Jobs life. But he could be right and Steve Jobs' could have been delusional, the “Reality Distortion Field” was his invention after all. On the other hand Schmidt has been testifying in front of congress of late and coming across to some with little credibility suggesting he could be the delusional one.

Working from the Wikipedia Timelines (seems appropriate since this is about Google) for both products, Eric Schmidt’s tenure on Apple’s board, and Jobs comments let’s see of Jobs belief that Schmidt and Google stole from Apple holds together.

So given our fondness for trials this year let’s create a Moot Court with you as the jury and look at the facts.

Facts:

Eric Schmidt joined Apple’s board in 2006 a decade after leaving Sun and had and 5 years after joining Google in 2001. He held that board position until he was forced to resign in 2009 (let’s be serious he was fired) for conflicts of interest related to his position as Google’s CEO. Clearly, Apple’s board thought Schmidt had crossed a line but since Jobs was known to drive his board this isn’t really as telling as it might otherwise be.

Apple’s (we’ll use this timeline for the iPhone) first visible phone was the ROKR, a failed joint project with Motorola that launched in September 2005. Given (using this Android timeline) Google bought the company - Android Inc. - that developed Android in August of that same year you could argue that Apple followed Google, but this was a small acquisition and not widely reported. Android was lost and on life support prior to Google’s purchase and only still alive thanks to an envelope of cash ($10,000) they got from ex-Microsoft executive Steve Pearlman who now runs OnLive. Is short it wasn’t going anyplace before Google bought it, and apparently not doing much in the time between the purchase and Schmidt joining Apple’s board. In short Google bought a concept but seemed to be struggling with a direction for it prior to Schmidt joining Apple otherwise we would have seen some result.

Going to the Google timeline there is no evidence that Google was even interested in phones prior to the acquisition of the Android team. In fact, they seemed to be mostly focused on expanding search and increasingly making copies of Microsoft products like Hotmail. Eventually, in 2006, they bought a company that allowed them to go after Microsoft Office, at the same time Schmidt joined Apple’s board. They didn’t have a good target for Android initially, and so it appeared to stall.

Jobs announced the iPhone in February 2007, and it was released the following June, but it clearly had been defined over the years following the ROKR and finalized in the year after Schmidt joined Google - and he would have been intimate with that effort. Google announced Android the following November and the two from hardware through interface were pretty similar. In China, and apparently for a time at Sears, the differences were surprisingly slight.

With the iPad, Jobs hid that product from Schmidt and Google and Google’s tablet efforts, coincidently, haven’t been as impressive.

The fact that Google copies isn’t in dispute. They clearly have copied Microsoft and really there is nothing wrong with that other than trying to argue the efforts (other than price) are innovative. The sequence of events suggest that someone got the idea of doing a phone before Apple locked down on the iPhone, but after the ROKR, and were unsure as to what to create. That was until the iPhone emerged at Apple and then they created a very similar, though initially inferior product. So we have historical behavior that showcases Google copies, we have motive (to build a better phone), and with Schmidt on the board we have opportunity.

Guilty or Innocent?

In this case you are the jury and you can either buy Eric Schmidt’s explanation of an immaculate birth for Android at Google or Jobs's explanation which suggests Schmidt mirrored Apple’s efforts.

Form your own opinion: are Google and Schmidt innocent victims of Steve Jobs’ paranoia or did they steal another idea from another company, this time one that trusted them?

Google, when it comes to innovation, you’re no Apple. If you want to be, just remember Steve Jobs’ final words to your CEO: “Figure out what Google wants to be when it grows up. It’s now all over the map. Google was making products that are adequate but not great, they’re turning you into another Microsoft”. Or start being a better Google: with Search and products like Maps you have shown you can be better than just a poor copy of someone else.